Dame Anna Wintour ditched her signature dark sunglasses as she received an honour from King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
The legendary Vogue editor, 75, arrived at the investiture ceremony at the King’s London residence on Tuesday morning sporting a chic grey blazer and matching calf-length skirt by Alexander McQueen along with the oversized eyewear that she is rarely seen without.
Adhering to royal protocol, Hampstead-born Wintour removed her shades once the ceremony got underway, as the King officially made her a Companion of Honour.
Despite her steely persona - which is said to have inspired Meryl Streep’s portrayal of demanding editor Miranda Priestly in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada - Wintour could be seen flashing a huge smile as the monarch placed the medal on the lapel of her jacket and shook her hand.
“The last time I was here the Queen gave me a medal and we both agreed that we had been doing our job a very long time, and then this morning His Majesty asked me if this meant I was going to stop working and I said firmly, no," she said.
Wintour - whose father was Charles Wintour, a former editor of The Evening Standard - is best-known as the long-serving editor-in-chief of Vogue, a position she has held since 1988.
She has also been running the Met Gala since 1995 and was honoured in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours list for her services to fashion.
The Companion of Honour is given to those who have made an outstanding contribution to national life, and there are only ever 65 recipients of the medal.
She was previously made a Dame Commander by the late Queen Elizabeth at a ceremony in 2017 in recognition of her services to fashion and journalism.
Alongside Wintour, artist Tracey Emin, 61, was also honoured at the ceremony after she was made a Dame last year for her services to art.
Her seminal works include Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 – a tent with 102 people’s appliqued names – and My Bed, an art installation at the Tate Gallery consisting of her own unmade bed surrounded by detritus.
